


what if we could?

by the_crownless_queen



Series: Sapphic September 2018 [2]
Category: Girl Meets World
Genre: Best Friends to Lovers, F/F, Nebulous Timeline, Sapphic September, Sapphic September 2018, Timeline What Timeline
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-04
Updated: 2018-09-04
Packaged: 2019-07-07 02:15:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15898872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_crownless_queen/pseuds/the_crownless_queen
Summary: One day, Riley sees two girls kissing on the street, and she thinks, 'Wait, I can.'





	what if we could?

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Sapphic September 2018, Day 2: Best Friends to Lovers.  
> You can find us on tumblr using #sapphicseptember and #sapphicseptember2018.

Saturdays are Riley’s favorite day of the week.

Well, all the days are her favorites — or rather, whichever day she happens to be living is her favorite.

Even so, she had a certain special… fondness for Saturdays. They’re a weekend day, which means that she doesn’t have to prepare for school or worry about homework or worry about getting to school or worry about Maya — well, not that one. Riley always worries about Maya, though. Always.

Saturdays are a Maya day, too — not that all days aren’t also a _Maya day_ , because Riley doesn’t know what she’d do without her best friend by her side. They’re their best friends day, the day they usually just hang out, just the two of them.

And today, Maya is dragging her out to a new modern art expo. Maya had been so excited to tell Riley about it that she had been glowing, and Riley had just nodded an agreement when Maya had asked Riley to come with her.

Or well, Maya had _told_ Riley they were going, but with Maya, it’s more or less the same thing when it comes to these things.

* * *

Since the weather is nice today, they’ve decided to walk there. It’s not very far — about twenty minutes if they take their time, but with Maya commenting on the architecture, it might take them closer to forty.

Not that Riley minds. She loves listening to Maya talk.

Maya is raving about some tagged art on the side of some building they’re walking past, tugging at their joined hands whenever she wants to point at some element of the drawing, when Riley sees them.

Two girls, meeting in the middle of the street. the first is dark-haired and slightly shorter than the other, and she’s wearing the bluest shirt Riley’s ever seen. She’d just been standing there, back against the wall, and Riley’s eyes had passed right over her before, but now that her friend is there, it’s like she’s changed.

She grins, and it’s so wide that Riley can see it even from this side of the street.

It makes her smile, and she almost turns back to Maya to tell her, _Look at them, this could be us_.

But the words die into her throat when she sees what the second girl, pink ponytail swishing behind her, just pull the first girl into a tight embrace and kiss her.

Riley freezes, heart pounding in her chest. Maya, still holding her hand, jerks to a stop. “Hey, Riley, what gives?” she asks, but if her tone is a little sour, her eyes are worried.

“Nothing,” she manages to reply, and she only just manages to tear her eyes away from those two girls. They weren’t doing anything indecent — their kiss, though slightly heated, is sadly nothing she’s never witnessed from her parents — and yet the image stays with her.

“You were saying about the writing?” she adds, and Maya eyes her with suspicion before heaving a sigh and shaking her head.

“I was saying that it looks like it’s unreadable, which is fascinating in itself, but…”

Riley lets Maya’s voice wash over her. It soothes her and eventually, her heart stops racing.

But she doesn’t stop thinking about those girls. She can’t.

* * *

Riley’s inner turmoil must have been more noticeable than she’d thought, because they stop in front of the exhibit and Maya stares her down with narrowed eyes.

She lets go of Riley’s hand to cross her arms, and Riley kind of hates that she notices that now, that she feels a loss where Maya’s hand had been — that her eyes can’t help but be drawn to the lines of Maya’s arms, and to her eyes, which sparkle with that inner fire Riley’s always loved.

“Alright, Riley, what is it? You’ve been silent all the way here, and you’re _never_ silent.” Something vulnerable flashes through Maya’s eyes, and she shifts on her feet. “If you don’t want to be here, you don’t have to be, you know — I can’t just —”

“No, no, it’s not that,” Riley hastens to say, because even if she doesn’t know what to say, she hates the idea that Maya could believe that Riley would rather be someplace else even more.  “I do want to be here.”

Maya frowns, but she eases up a little. “Well, then what is it?”

Riley bites her lips and looks down.

_This could be us_ , she had thought immediately upon seeing those girls. She had thought about Maya and herself, about the two of them together, but she and Maya are just friends.

They’re just friends. Not _girlfriends_ , not dating, not anything romantic like that.

But — and here comes the dawning realization — it had never occurred to her before that maybe they could. That maybe _Riley_ was like those girls, that the way she felt for Maya was more than friendship, or even best-friendship.

“I —” Her voice sticks in her throat, and to her shame, her eyes start to water.

Maya’s eyes widen in panic and her hands practically fly to Riley’s shoulders. “Hey,” she says, voice soft, “you know you can tell me anything, right?”

Sniffling, Riley nods. “Of course. It’s just…” _I love you_. _You can do it, Riley, it’s not that hard — just three little words_. “Iloveyou,” she blurts out, and winces. “I mean, I —”

“I love you, too,” Maya blurts out back, her cheeks crimson, before Riley can figure out how to explain.

Hope rises in her chest, treacherous and warm, before Riley manages to shove it back down. “No, I mean — I _love_ you. Not as a friend — I mean, as a friend too, of course, you’re my friend, but also like a more than friends thing — I just… I love you.”

Maya lets out a huff of laughter. “Me too, dummy. I love you as a ‘more than friend thing’ too.”

Riley blinks. She breathes in, but it’s like there’s no air. “Oh,” she says, “you do? Really?”

Maya nods, grinning. “Really.”

“Wow.” She pauses, smiles, and then, because she needs to be _sure_ , she adds, “Really?”

“Yes, Riley, _really_.” Maya rolls her eyes, but it’s fond. “Is it really such a surprise?” she asks, and it’s only because Riley knows her so well that she sees the flash of doubt in those eyes.

“Not really, no,” she replies before she can help herself, because making Maya feel better about herself is pretty much an ingrained reflex at this point, but it’s only as she says it that she realizes how true it is.

Maya’s eyes are very pretty, Riley can’t help but notice. They’re very blue, kind of like the sky. They suit her, Riley thinks, and it’s not a new thought, but it _feels_ new.

“Riley?” Maya’s voice drags her out of her thoughts, and Riley snaps to attention.

“Yes?”

“Can I kiss you?” Maya asks, and it’s somehow a little defiant and a little shy at the same time.

Riley’s heart trips up in her chest. She says  _Yes_ so fast it gives her emotional whiplash.

Maya’s lips taste like apricot lipgloss. They’re soft and warm, and it’s nothing like Riley ever thought kissing someone would be, but it’s also so much better, because it’s _Maya_ and Riley loves her.


End file.
